Guys, a digital ballast is the "new" HID.


Most new cars now days are coming with an onboard canbus computer, not just mercedes.
To meet this demand they started with the DIGITAL ballast which leaves no need for a "can-bus" decoder or "canceller" wire.

They can be a little more expensive but worth the money.
A couple of sites I know of vvme.com tspny.com and ddmtuning.com

 

I just bought a pair of the error elims from DDM. I will use my ebay kit with hopes that it works!!

 

good luck

 

Hey Eric,

Just wanted to give an update after I installed the DDM kit with error cancelers this weekend.

They shipped me a faulty ballast but luckily I had a spare 55w ballast from another kit (LightWerkz). I hooked the non-DDM ballast to the error cancelers and everything works just fine. No flickering or 'bulb out' messages on the dash. Hopefully that will be the case for your ebay kit as well.

Good luck with your install.

 

dude wtf is it me or everyone who orders from DDM is getting ****ED up kits/bulbs?!

 

DDM has that problem with the ballasts

 

wow, anyone care to answer why people still order from them ? thats ridiculous

 

I think people are still ordering because of their reputation of being compatible with our cars. That's why I ordered ... but I was aware of the risk of the recent faulty ballast problem. Unfortunately I did indeed get a faulty ballast.

Despite the faulty ballast, the DDM kit with error cancelers works great. Much better than the kit I bought previously which to be fair, was from 2007 and meant to be installed on less electronically intense vehicles like Subarus.

 

I was about to order mine from DDM until I read all the issues. I decided to get them from HIDextra instead. I haven't heard of any issue with those as of yet. (fingers crossed)

 

first of all thanks for sharing and appreciate the honesty.
However I am SORRY (just in case) I dont mean to offend anyone but to buy from a company who REPEATEDLY sells and mis-advertises a product is .. well .... quite DUMB.

Not only because you as the consumer arent getting what you are promised but also your keeping these people in bussiness!!

WTF if u send me a faulty ballast rest assured that **** is getting shipped RIGHT BACK.
DDM is not the only company known to be compatible with our cars, matter of fact DDM (u said cancellers) is still using the old style HID system.

New systems which are digital no longer need a canceller for our on board canbus. As for "electronically intense".. almost every car now has this can-bus system. New ones anyway.

again someone should sue these ****ing people.

 

Right so I am shipping the faulty ballast back under warranty ... and i will then have a spare ballast when I get it back from DDM. I also now have a fully functioning HID system using my back-up ballast. So there's no loss to me ... what is there to argue about? Your apologetic preface does nothing to conceal your condescending tone.

Which companies make the "new" systems? Do they advertise as such? Maybe I should look into them as a backup if my current sets of old generation HIDs fail...

 

I have had HIDextra's D1S bulbs in my headlights for a year now with no problems. I also use their HID kit for my fogs.

 

seems kind of cheap for HID kits

 

I really wish I would have read this before I just ordered from DDM... Crap.
I just got the 55w 8000k Kit. I didn't order the extra wiring harness or error eliminator because I didn't think I would need it since this is 55w, not 35w, and our halogens are 55w. Who makes the new digital balast that you speak of? DDM says that theres are digital?

 

Were all glad you had a solution to this problem however not everyone has a spare ballast sitting around.

I was never trying to hide my condescending tone I was blatantly stating that I was not trying to insult anyone who buys from them (including you), as for the company they can go sell their ****ty kits somewhere else, I am not buying them.

If it brings a canceller cable it is not a digital ballast, digital ballast have erased the need for those while cutting ballast size in almost half. Pretty innovative if you ask me. Most digital kits go for about $60. Yes a bit more expensive but you wont have to worry about used parts, extra cables and a huge ballast.

Even so, I dont have a digital kit.

 

Hey Dynomite, where did you hear about the bad batch from? I had a DDM set on my previous vehicle with no problems and was considering another set for my w204 too. I would like to know more about the bad batch then decide if I want to make the purchase.

 

I read it here on the forum. Probably on the W204 section. Those are the main guy using DDM.

 

I did a bit of research. It appears the DDM kit isn't half bad. I guess some people have just gotten a bad taste. They do in fact use digital slim ballasts. While it isn't a requirement that they all have built-in error cancelers, most all that I have came across so far do (including DDM's new kits).

I don't know if you got DDM's old analog ones or what, but the new ones sound great. The problem is, that the HID kits use a higher amperage to first power on, and because our wiring harnesses in non Xenon cars are only made for 55w halogen bulbs, they only need to support a startup and a constant amperage of 4.5amps. Where as the DDM kits use a startup amperage of 6amps (max) and then go down to an operating amperage of 2.9 for 35w kit, and 4.5 for 55w kit. The reason why some might have flickering or issues when some bulbs won't fire up on startup is because if there is not 6amps coming through the ballasts to ignite the bulbs, then it won't power up and you will get a bulb out message (even on new digital ballasts).

This is why most recommend the dual in/out relay harness, which will take a direct supply of power from the battery to the ballasts, ensuring they get 6amps every time on startup. But what I am wondering is whether or not if you use the relay harness, will you always get the bulb out message because you are no longer using cars headlight harness to power the kit?

I will let you all know how I make out with my HID kit. I just ordered the 55w kit from DDM in 8000k. I didn't order the harness or error cancelers, as I don't expect I will need the error cancelers (since I am running 55w ones) and I will try my luck without the harness. If it turns out that I need the harness, I will just order it and probably get the error cancelers too, just in case the bulb out message is displayed when the headlights are powered by the relay harness.

Just to inform people of the facts about HID's:
1) The operating temperature on average of an HID bulb is LOWER than that of an equivalent wattage halogen bulb (But, quality is an issue, that is why I said on average, if you buy a $13 HID kit, don't expect it to be of great quality and expect fluctuations in wattage and temperature)

2) The operating temperature of an HID kit has no correlation to the Kelvin rating. Operating temperature is derived from taking the wattage of a bulb and multiplying it by its efficiency-a ratio of light output to heat flow output (Which HID bulbs are much more efficient). Combine that with the fact that 35w hid bulb outputs roughly 3x the amount of lumens as a 55w halogen bulb, this means that the entire heat output is not only lower because HID is more efficient, but also because it has a lower wattage. If you were to compare 55w HID to 55w halogen, the HID would still be cooler due to a better efficiency of electric into light (less heat dissipation).

 

Good luck

 

+1

 

I figured I would update this thread since I started it. I bought those error cancelers from DDM and they work perfect with my eBay HID lights. Not one problem. Thanks for everyones help!